Lake Highlands serial rapist gets 85-year prison sentence

After three women faced down the man who raped them, Cesar Benitez took the stand Friday in court and claimed he, too, was a victim.

In a rambling plea for lenience at a sentencing hearing, Benitez blamed “the devil” for making him develop a years-long steroid dependency and claimed he raped the women “without my consent.”

State District Judge Ernest White said he didn’t buy the steroids excuse and sentenced Benitez to 85 years in prison. Benitez, 34, will get credit for the year he has spent in jail and will be eligible for parole in 30 years. He pleaded guilty in February.

The sentence came after the three victims, who testified under pseudonyms, described Benitez’s attacks. The Dallas Morning News doesn’t generally identify victims of sexual assault. The attacks left the Lake Highlands community on high alert until he was captured April 2.

Benitez echoed the sentiments of his mother, who also testified, that he had simply “strayed” and said several times that he regretted “mistakes” and an “error.” When prosecutor Amy Derrick asked why he was apologizing, he said the error was taking steroids, specifically “Chinese steroids” — drawing an audible reaction from the courtroom.

He said the drugs warped his mind and he often asks himself why he took steroids.

“The evil came upon me, and I just don’t know the answer,” he said.

‘Weak move’

Derrick called his testimony “just the ramblings of a madman,” and a “weak move to try to make excuses.”

“Mr. Benitez is a predator, and we are happy to know he will be locked up for a very long time,” she said.

She lauded the three women for testifying. They were embraced by their families and friends after the sentence was handed down.

Benitez broke into one woman’s home Feb. 22, 2013, and raped her. Another woman was raped in the same block of Ferndale Road three weeks later. The third assault occurred nearby on March 22 on Aldwick Drive.

The first victim, “Mary Kramer,” said in court that she goes to counseling every week to cope with her feelings of vulnerability after the sexual assault in her home.

She recounted waking up “alone and completely defenseless” to Benitez standing over her bed. Kramer testified she thought she was having a nightmare at first. But when he kept telling her to wake up, she said she realized what was happening. He held a knife to her neck and face during the assault.

“I still have this insecurity and this feeling of being weaker because I couldn’t do something to stop it from happening,” Kramer said.

The second victim, “Rachel Haecker” was in the shower while home alone. She looked up after hearing thuds and saw Benitez standing outside the shower door. He took her — still cold and soaking wet — into her bedroom and raped her.

She said she was a virgin before the painful attack.

“I remember thinking, ‘This is stupid, this is wrong,’ ” she said.

She stayed with her parents and hasn’t spent a night in the house where she was attacked since. She said her strong Christian faith has helped her cope. But a year later, she said she is only now starting to be comfortable being alone at night.

“Jane Kramer,” the March 22 victim, was asleep after her husband left for work when she woke up to a stranger closing the door to her bedroom.

“As soon as I realized this is not my husband, I jumped out of bed and screamed, ‘Get out of here,’” she testified.

Benitez hit her on the face and pushed her to the floor, where he tried to suffocate her. She continued to fight while he tried to sexually assault her. Eventually, he fled after she bit him on the hand and screamed, she testified.

“I can’t understand the kind of disgusting sickness that would make someone attack a woman in her sleep,” Jane said.

Panic attacks

Since the attack, Jane, who is seven months pregnant with her husband’s child, suffers from panic attacks and has only spent about 15 hours at home alone in the past year. For months, she was terrified of any strange noise, she testified.

“Any time anyone came through the door, they had to say they were coming,” she said. “I constantly felt like I was going to be attacked at any moment.”

But she said the most devastating effect on her life is her uncertainty about her unborn child.

“I’m really conflicted about having a boy because of the kind of sickness that exists out there,” she testified. “I don’t feel bonded to this baby at all.”

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